Ask anyone who actually saw it: Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is a blast. The problem is, though, that not enough people did see it. The D&D movie – from Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein – brought the fantasy role-playing game to the screen with plenty of humour, earning strong reviews (a critical hit!) and positive audience reactions too. But the film only made just over $200 million at the box office, and so far we don’t have a sequel – despite the fact that Goldstein and Daley wrote a script for one. Still, it seems fans shouldn’t totally give up.
“There’s always hope,” Goldstein tells Empire, in a new interview for the duo’s latest film, action buddy-comedy Mayday. “We wrote a [D&D sequel] script that can be a movie, and Hasbro is very supportive of making that movie.” The problem is finding financial backing. “I think they need a partner, though, to do it,” he says. “So if you have any billionaire nerd friends, send them our way.” Surely there’s got to be some ultra-rich D&D-head out there, willing to try and roll a Nat 20.
The filmmakers knew a sequel was never a given – but in scripting the second film, they were able to further embrace the characters they set up in the first. “[We] knew that it could go either way because of the fact that it wasn’t a box-office smash, and it would be a very expensive movie to develop,” says Daley. “But just writing a script that you’re proud of is kind of satisfying in and of itself. We had so much fun revisiting these characters, this family that we’ve established from the first film, and not have to fill the first act with exposition.” If someone does want to bankroll D&D 2, it would be a force for (chaotic) good.
Read Empire’s full interview with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein in the Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew issue – on sale Thursday September 24. Pre-order a copy online here. Mayday is streaming now on Apple TV.
